White House Heavily Involved in CIA Tape Destruction

The CIA is on a roll lately with news that it destroyed taped “harsh” interrogations of detainees. The Justice Department recently warned a federal judge to back off of an inquiry as to whether the tapes’ destruction violated a court order. The department also asked congressional committees to back off of their independent investigations – as if Congress does not have a constitutionally mandated oversight role.

This is just another case of Bush administration officials trying once again to hide their criminal activity. The White House cannot be trusted to investigate itself and at this point, only an independent prosecutor can fully investigate the matter without the Justice Department attempting to influence the process.

The argument that the tapes needed to be destroyed in order to protect the operatives just does not hold water. If that were the case then virtually all of the documents in the CIA’s possession would need to be destroyed.